Vietnam War glossary
- Agent Orange
- A herbicide the U.S. sprayed to strip jungle cover, mainly from 1962 to 1971. It has been linked to serious illness in veterans and Vietnamese civilians.
- ARVN
- The Army of the Republic of Vietnam, South Vietnam’s regular army.
- Domino theory
- The Cold War belief that if one country fell to communism, its neighbors would follow.
- DMZ
- The Demilitarized Zone, the buffer along the 17th parallel that separated North and South Vietnam.
- Ho Chi Minh Trail
- A network of supply routes running through Laos and Cambodia that carried troops and supplies south.
- MACV
- Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, the U.S. command that ran the war effort.
- MIA / POW
- Missing in action and prisoner of war. Accounting for the missing continues today.
- NLF / Viet Cong
- The National Liberation Front, a South Vietnamese communist-led movement. “Viet Cong” was the term used by the U.S. and South Vietnam.
- NVA
- The People’s Army of Vietnam, North Vietnam’s regular army.
- Rolling Thunder
- The sustained U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam from 1965 to 1968.
- Tet Offensive
- A coordinated series of attacks launched in January 1968 during the Tet holiday. It was a military setback for the communist forces but shook U.S. public confidence.
- The draft
- Conscription through the Selective Service System. A lottery based on birth dates began in 1969.
- Vietnamization
- Nixon’s policy of shifting combat duties to South Vietnamese forces while U.S. troops withdrew.